Coming into the semifinal against mighty Australia, Anneke Bosch wasn’t having the best of campaigns at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. Her scores read 18 off 26, 11 off 13, and 25 off 25, for an overall strike of just under 85.
But on the big night, she finished unbeaten on 74 off 48 balls, with 8 fours and a six, with a strike rate of 154.16. Her career-best innings was good enough to end Australia’s reign as T20 world champions as well as their 15-match win streak in the tournament. And the ‘nothing-to-lose’ mindset clicked for her.
Despite her sub-par returns, South Africa persisted with Bosch at No 3 and she came up with one of the all-time great knockout performances in the history of this tournament. Bosch knew she wasn’t doing enough to help her side, but kept the belief. And a mindset that backed her own belief that a big score was around the corner.
“Batting in the top three and making that spot my own, or my responsibility, was something I really wanted to do, but obviously it hasn’t been going that way or hasn’t been going as planned in the last couple of games,” Bosch said later.
After a couple of quiet overs to start the run-chase, Bosch got into her work. The only way Australia were going to defend 134 was with early wickets and South African batters starting to play safe. Bosch did anything but, as she brought out the sweep to good effect and also used her feet well against the spinners. While captain Laura Wolvaardt was her steady self, Bosch’s innings left Australia shell-shocked. Suddenly, her World Cup campaign went from iffy to spectacular as South Africa made it to back-to- back finals, and placed themselves on the cusp of history.
Many options
Mind you, if she wasn’t a cricketer for South Africa, Bosch would have still had a pretty cool career in sports. Having started off trying her hand at multiple sports – tennis, netball, athletics, swimming, football, rugby – she settled her focus on cricket. However, her LinkedIn profile also says: Biokineticist and Sport Scientist. In 2023, she received a central contract from Cricket South Africa, which meant she could turn all her attention to the sport.
South Africa’s Anneke Bosch celebrates scoring runs with Laura Wolvaardt during the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 semi-final match between Australia and South Africa at Dubai International Cricket Stadium, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP/PTI)
“I think working as a Biokineticist in a 7am – 6pm job for 3-4 years after university and still trying to make a career out of cricket was one of the biggest challenges,” Bosch told gSport in an interview last year. “Luckily, I worked for a very understanding, lenient boss and we adjusted my hours a bit after the first year so that I could spend some time on cricket. I also started studying again while I worked there so balancing cricket, work and studies was tough. I needed to manage my time really well, and the desire that I had to make a career out of cricket is what kept me going.”
The 31-year-old has been around for a while, having made her ODI debut as far back as 2016 and T20I bow in 2019 against India in Surat. But she credited the recent arrival of Baakier Abrahams as batting coach for a mindset change, for her side in general and herself in particular.
In an interview with broadcaster Kass Naidoo after her T20 debut, she recalled how Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers were the two batters she looked up to, apart from senior teammates Lizelle Lee and Marizanne Kapp.
Fast forward to the second half of 2022, she joined the MRF family and wielded the same willow as the two batting greats. Fast forward to 2024, she let that MRF bat do the talking against the world’s best team to pull off one of South Africa’s best-ever wins.
For the sport scientist, perhaps it wasn’t rocket science after all.
